Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 - Lesson 12 of 14

INTRODUCTION

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Arjuna now makes his final plea in these verses. 'Show me Your form that I am familiar with,' he says, 'the One that I am comfortable with. I am grateful and overwhelmed by the visions that You have shown me, but what I am comfortable with is Your four-handed form, holding the discus and mace, as the Protector of the Universe. I am not comfortable; I am indeed fearful of the terrifying form of You as the Destroyer, however real it may be.' All of us are in the same situation as Arjuna.

We all have fixed ideas of what divinity is, what

motherhood is, what love is, and what friendship

is. Existence does not work that way. Existence

does not differentiate between good and bad,

between beautiful and ugly.

In the Vishnu Sahasranama, which is recited by Bhisma as he was awaiting his liberation, he describes Vishnu as ‘Peaceful, emanating bliss...’ If instead, Bhisma had used words to describe the fearsome attributes of Vishnu such as: ‘Frightful destroyer, with burning mouths...’ and so on, how many would recite the Sahasranama?

A spiritual figure sitting in a meditative pose

It is a different matter that most people who go through the motions of reading and reciting the thousand names of Vishnu do not understand a word of what they are saying!

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved But if you do understand what the words mean, and if you are not in equilibrium, you will be disturbed. These words, understood to be negative by your logical mind, will create severe emotional turbulence within you.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved A yogi is one who has passed beyond these turbulences. Arjuna at this point in time is yet to reach this stage. He still seeks the safety and comfort of the four-handed divine Protector that he is used to, rather than the terrifying Mahakala.

GOALS:

To understand that a
balanced mind will help us
to cognize the true nature
of the Divine.

ASSESSMENTS

What delusion prevents us from truly seeing and accepting the cosmic form of the Divine?

In your own words, describe how you think Arjuna might be feeling at this point.

What powerful cognition can you give someone who may be experiencing what Arjuna is expressing here?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

DRAW BEAUTIFUL AND UGLY IN A PICTORIAL FORM.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Paper Pencil, sketch pen or color pencils

PROCEDURE

Encourage children to draw beautiful and ugly in pictorial format. Ask them to tell what they drew. Ask them to describe their ideas about beauty and ideas about ugly, so they can hear how different each person's ideas are.

INFERENCE

Existence does not differentiate between beautiful and ugly

A portrait of a young person with dark hair, a bindi, and a subtle smile.

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

GAME OF EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE AND EQUILIBRIUM

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Chart paper

Pictures or coloured paper for a collage

PROCEDURE:

encourage the children to act out how they can go from emotional turbulence to equilibrium. You will say words like homework, pizza, scolding,, no money, and for each give time for The children to give first an emotional reaction like a grumpy face for homework, greediness for pizza, so on. Then encourage them to transition to a state of equilibrium. celebrate their ability to act this out and encourage them to use this approach in their life.

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
GAME OF EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE AND
EQUILIBRIUM

A yogi in saffron robes, sitting and resting his head on his right hand

INFERENCE:
A yogi is one who has passed
beyond these turbulences.

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

Discuss "We all have fixed ideas of what divinity is, what motherhood is, what love is, and what friendship is. " have the children sit in a circle and take turns going round the circle for each word, so each one gets to say something about how they understand:

divinity

Motherhood

love

friendship

Krsna

arjuna

Krsna shows that He is in everybody and that everybody is in Him. Whether we are intellectually oriented, emotionally oriented or being level oriented, we can find our fulfillment in Krsna.

When the intellect ripens, it becomes intelligence; when emotion ripens, it becomes devotion; when our being ripens, we become enlightened. All these three modes of enlightenment find their peak in Krsna. He can fulfill every being. Hence, He is called Jagat Guru, master of the whole universe.